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Writing Box (Suzuribako) with Phoenix in Paulownia
late 1500s
- Medium
- Lacquer on wood with sprinkled gold and silver powder (maki-e) and gold and silver foil application
- Classification
- Lacquer
- Dimensions
- 4 x 20.5 x 23.5 cm (1 9/16 x 8 1/16 x 9 1/4 in.)
- Culture
- Japan, Momoyama period (1573–1615)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Japanese Art
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
The only place the mythical phoenix will perch is in the paulownia tree. Along with the dragon, the bird is a symbol of imperial power in East Asia. This box––a container for an inkstone, brushes, and ink––is both functional and lavish, its dramatic effects achieved with a pear-skin ground decoration (nashiji) and sprinkled powder decoration in high relief (takamaki-e).
